The Race to Save the Lord God Bird

The Race to Save the Lord God Bird: 10th Anniversary Edition

By Phillip Hoose
Published by Melanie Kroupa Books,
Farrar, Straus and Giroux

“There is probably more passion, sadness, villainy, heroism and sheer suspense in this account of the decline of the ivory-billed woodpecker than in any other book, of any genre…” —Washington Post Book World

About the Book
The tragedy of extinction is explained through the dramatic story of a legendary bird, the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, and of those who tried to possess it, paint it, shoot it, sell it, and, in a last-ditch effort, save it. A powerful saga that sweeps through two hundred years of history, it introduces artists like John James Audubon, bird collectors like William Brewster, and finally a new breed of scientist in Cornell’s Arthur A. “Doc” Allen and his young ornithology student, James Tanner, whose quest to save the Ivory-bill culminates in one of the first great conservation showdowns in U.S. history, an early round in what is now a worldwide effort to save species. As hope for the Ivory-bill fades in the United States, the bird is last spotted in Cuba in 1987, and Cuban scientists join in the race to save it.

All this, plus Mr. Hoose’s wonderful story-telling skills, comes together to give us what David Allen Sibley, author of The Sibley Guide to Birds calls “the most thorough and readable account to date of the personalities, fashions, economics, and politics that combined to bring about the demise of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker.”

The 10th Anniversary EditionHas the lost bird been found? This new edition of the author’s award-winning history features a new chapter about the endlessly debated 2004 Arkansas “rediscovery” of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker that made headlines around the world, as well as an expanded introduction and more than a dozen new images.

ResourcesRead an ExcerptListen to NPR Interview, “The Significance of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker.”Read The Nature Conservancy article, “On the Trail of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker”

“A groundbreaking book for readers of any age. In a true story spanning two hundred years, Hoose delivers a spellbinding mystery and a haunting look at how a species can suddenly lose ground…Above all, this is a story about attitudes – toward birds, toward knowledge, toward land and science and wealth, and about the magical commonality of living things.”
—Paul R. Ehrlich, author of The Population Bomb and President, Center for Conservation Biology, Stanford University

“Phil Hoose uses his wonderful storytelling skills to give us the most thorough and readable account to date of the personalities, fashions, economics, and politics that combined to bring about the demise of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. I found myself thinking about The Race to Save the Lord God Bird long after I finished reading it.”
—David Allen Sibley, author of The Sibley Guide to Birds

“If all Phil Hoose did in The Race to Save the Lord God Bird was tell the story of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, that would be enough, because he spins a mesmerizing tale – full of vivid characters and wilderness landscapes so real you can almost feel the humidity and hear the bellowing alligators. But his underlying message takes readers beyond the battle to save one glorious bird, and shows why some people dedicate their lives and hearts to fighting extinction – a hopeful message that is more important now than ever.”
—Scott Weidensaul, author of The Ghost with Trembling Wings

“What a wonderful book! How we got into a biodiversity crisis and how we might begin to get out of it, all captured in the suspenseful, many-threaded tale of the race to save the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Everyone interested in conservation and ecology will be enthralled and informed.” —Daniel Simberloff, Past President, American Society of Naturalists

A graduate of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, Hoose was for 37 years a staff member of The Nature Conservancy , dedicated to preserving the plants, animals and natural communities of the Earth.